doi:10.3850/978-981-08-6555-9_137

ABSTRACT

In the course of the ongoing miniaturisation in many industrial branches, microfluidic has evolved into an important sector of microsystems technology. Plastics are applied more and more in this growing industrial sector. Apart from low material costs the huge design possibilities of plastic parts have to be pointed out. To guarantee the functionality of a system suitable joining processes must be applied to join separate components. Only laser transmission welding and ultrasonic welding are applicable for welding of complex micro components. Since with ultrasonic welding a certain frictional load of the components cannot be totally avoided with standard welding equipment, specially adapted machinery has to be used as it could be shown at the Institute of Plastics Processing (IKV) at RWTH Aachen University. While various test specimens with micrometer dimensions have already been successfully welded in previous investigations, recent research deals with the advancement of ultrasonic welding for concrete applications in microfluidics. It could be shown that for appropriate welding parameters ultrasonic weld joints, which meet the requirements concerning mechanical strength and avoidance of flash, can be realised.

Keywords: Welding, Ultrasonic welding, Adapted welding equipment, Burst pressure, Microfluidics.

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